ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 47 



In the early spring of 1858 I was strolling through an oak copse in 

 the province of Epirus, not far from Butrinto, and suddenly observed 

 something moving under the fallen leaves at a few paces distance ; 

 there are no rabbits or squirrels in the district to which I am allud- 

 ing, but many Martens and Polecats, and thinking that the leaves 

 were possibly stirred by one of these animals, I fired at the spot, and 

 on going up to it found an unusually large specimen of the so-called 

 Glass Snake, Pseudopus pallasi (Oppell), quite dead, and much cut 

 about by my shot, in the act of swallowing one of its own species. 

 Of the latter animal some three inches were protruding from the jaws 

 of its captor, and life was not quite extinct. I cut open the larger 

 lizard from the vent, and extracted the smaller one, with but slight 

 injury to its scales ; the strangest part of my story remains to be 

 told, for on opening the body of the second I found a third of the 

 same species in its interior, with the fore-parts partially digested. 

 This Glass Snake was common in Epirus in dry places, and I believe 

 that its ordinary diet consists of snails and slugs ; three feet is rather 

 above the average length of adult specimens, but the animal that I 

 killed by shooting on this occasion cannot have measured less than 

 three and a half feet at least. LILFORD, Lilford Hall, Oundle. 



Occurrence of Sebastes viviparus, Kroyer, off the East Coast 

 of Scotland. Four examples of this form were brought into Aber- 

 deen market on 24th October 1892. Collet holds that this is 

 merely a variety of Sebastes norvigicus ; and Day, in his " British 

 Fishes," follows him. Kroyer and Lutken take the opposite view ; 

 and from what follows it will be seen that there are strong grounds 

 for believing that the two forms are distinct. It has been said that 

 the young of S. norvigicus has a distinct black opercular spot ; this 

 the writer has never seen, although many young have passed through 

 his hands. This spot being conspicuous in S. viviparus, is the 

 external distinguishing mark between the two forms, and is peculiar 

 to viviparus in so far as the writer knows. Viviparus has thirty to 

 thirty-one vertebras, norvigicus twenty-five to twenty-six. In vivi- 

 parus the ventral spinous processes always commence on the ninth 

 vertebra, counting from the head, while in norvigicus the first pro- 

 cess is always on the sixth vertebra. Viviparus has a large and well- 

 developed air-bladder ; norvigicus has none, at least I have never seen 

 one. The palate and gullet in viviparus are white, while in nor- 

 vigicus they are blue. In viviparus the exit from the stomach runs 

 downwards for half its length, and then upwards at an acute angle, 

 while in norvigicus the same organ is straight and directed upwards. 

 The ossicles that lie in the base of the brain cavity in viviparus are 

 large and inelegant as compared with that of norvigicus. These 

 very marked differences considered, it may be safely concluded that 

 the two forms are distinct, and that now viviparus may be added 

 to the list of British fishes. GEO. SIM, Aberdeen. 



